Are we all cyborgs now?<br /><br />We’re not just building machines that act like humans. We’re becoming humans that act like machines.<br /><br />In a world obsessed with whether AI can become human, far less attention is given to the way we are sacrificing our humanity at the altar of data, efficiency, and optimization.<br /><br />This is not inevitable.<br /><br />We can reclaim our humanity from the machine by making a commitment to reality—embracing our embodiment and the physical world around us.<br /><br />Making a commitment to reality means being intentional and communal in our assessment of every new technological breakthrough—and how we incorporate it, or don’t, into our lives.<br /><br />We must ask hard questions—and make even harder decisions.<br /><br />Where do we draw the line?<br /><br />On this episode of A Commitment to Reality, Joshua Pauling joins Dave Hanegraaff to discuss Are We All Cyborgs Now? Reclaiming Our Humanity from the Machine<a href="https://amzn.to/4snLJhH" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a> (co-authored with Robin Phillips), and what it means to remain human in an age increasingly defined by abstraction, efficiency, and disembodiment.<br /><br />Because we weren’t made for “datafication”—but for deification—communion with creation and the Creator.<br /><br />For more information on the book <a href="https://www.equip.org/product/cri-resource-are-we-all-cyborgs-now-reclaiming-our-humanity-from-the-machine/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Are We All Cyborgs Now? Reclaiming Our Humanity from the Machine  please click here.</a> https://www.equip.org/product/cri-resource-are-we-all-cyborgs-now-reclaiming-our-humanity-from-the-machine/<br /><br />Thank you for joining A Commitment to Reality, hosted by Dave Hanegraaff. Follow A Commitment to Reality wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube for full episodes + clips: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ACommitmenttoReality" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://www.youtube.com/@ACommitmenttoReality</a><br /><br />(Timestamps below.)<br /><br />0:00 — Intro / Have we made a technological deal with the devil?<br />3:30 — Forget the Turing test, what about humans choosing to live as machines?<br />5:50— The rapid pace of technological change<br />7:45 — How is digital technology different from past technologies?<br />10:45 — Why start a book on technology by writing about woodworking?<br />13:45 — Gnosticism—how did our body become the enemy of our lives?<br />18:15 — Personal Practices that help us live an embodied life<br />20:55 — Intentionality<br />23:25 — Will the Amish have the last laugh? (What we can learn from the Amish)<br />28:15 — The distinction between access and ownership<br />29:45 — Who were the Luddites and what can we learn from them?<br />31:45 — Monastic wisdom for our world today<br />35:45 — Should we be missionaries online?<br />38:30 — Can you go to church online?<br />40:30 — The problem with viewing church as education<br />45:30 — Does a memorial view of the sacraments make light of our embodiment?<br />46:45— We were made for deification not data processing and accumulation<br />50:45 — Where do we draw the line with technology?<br />54:30 —Human enhancement vs restoration—serious bioethical questions on the horizon<br />58:30—Tech realism, pessimism or optimism?<br />1:00:00 —The need for intentional, communal reaction and resistance to the machine<br />1:04:00 — What is the joy of thingness?<br />1:07:00—What is true leisure and how can it save us?<br />1:09:50—the importance of No Agenda togetherness<br />1:13:10 —Can hospitality save the world?<br />1:17:00—Lightning round questions about reality